Old Haunts

I'm the Vampire in the back.

Being home at my Mom's brought back a lot of memories of when we were kids and would go trick or treating. The neighborhood I grew up in was full of childen, like it is now. Back then the kids ruled the neighborhood, there were few places we didn't feel we were entitled to explore and take over. Summer and fall nights (non-school nights) were filled with night tag, capture the flag and just plain mischief.

Halloween was always huge in the neighborhood. When we were younger we had our parents with us, but as we grew I don't recall any parents joining the army of kids which swarmed the houses together. We would usually all meet up at one house, if I recall right it was the O'Leary's. Costumes were usually homemade, with bits and piece purchased at K-mart or Bradlees. With pillowcases in hand we were off for candy, tricks and even some scares. There were neighborhoods all over Mansfield like this, like the kids on Old Farm Road and Pine/Williams Street. Each group of close friends and families, joined through the generations by the next little sibling.

7th Grade - I love Sean S.

Walking through our neighborhood now, I told Mad Dog about who lived where, stories about what we did to that house or this house, where we played, who got in trouble and who liked who. The light poles on our street were where all the news was written. Who loved who that week, some anonymous and some not. Initials graced the metal posts in pencil, pen and even carved, joined together by a simple "+" or maybe even a heart. I had never thought to look at these poles while walking the street so many years later, but Halloween night I did. I found old friends there, well not actually there but in spirit which was perfect for the holiday. After all these years I still recognize people's handwriting. I found it amazing that the New England weather, the new families and the years couldn't erase us from the neighborhood history. Not only did I find my old friends among the lead, but I found myself in several places. Like in 7th grade when I liked Sean Sylva or when I had a crush on Rick Silver who was on my soccer team when I was like in 5/6th grade. I had to explain to Mad Dog they were not brothers. I found all the girls in the neighborhood who wrote I love Alex on those poles over the years, remembering when we first met Alex Aleman in the Maverick Drive circle. He was a crush of many of the neighborhood girls over the years (not me, I didn't want to get into that cat fight). Each school year, brought new postings to the poles and let other loves fade away.

My Family 

I'm now 35 years old and my kids are walking the neighborhood. They probably won't know the people of my past personally, but they will know the stories, the history of my childhood, meeting the parents who have stayed while their children have moved on. The fondest memories I have of childhood are related to that neighborhood and the people who made up that time. This weekend I found myself saying hello to Nick Goodwin, who I babysat for when he was probably Lex's age, he was childhood friends with my brother Kevin. Those two were thick as thieves, collecting for charities without our parent's permission and getting caught by Mrs. Kelley. We rang the doorbell of the O'Leary's house, a house I don't think I rang the bell for in all my years of going there (when we were young we would most often walk right in). I chatted with Mr. O, and didn't get called "Stranger". In the past if he hadn't seen you around in a while he would greet you with a "Well, HELLO Stranger!" We were greeted at the Lambert's house by Mrs. Lambert who chatted with Lex and Loki about their costumes and we said Happy Halloween to Mr. Palmieri who was trick or treating with his grandchild. I played in these people's houses, I knew their children's secrets and they all hold a special place in my heart.

I hope that my friends of the past are well, that they visit the streets of our neighborhood from time to time. If they cannot feel the asphalt under their feel that they find it in their memories. The sleepovers, the forts in the woods, the football/baseball games, fake rock bands and most of all the friends we moved away from and left behind.

Family Reunion - aka Nana's Happy Day

When I was young, every holiday was spent with family (both immediate and extended). Christmas would start in Mansfield, and then move to my Uncle's in North Attleboro. All the kids were there and we played in the basement with whatever toy we brought along or received that day. This was my Mom's side of the family, which is not very big compared to my Dad's family - but it was family and we had a good time. In the 80's my Grandfather passed away and my Uncle moved down to South Carolina with part of his family. Since then we have all grown-up and see each other less and less.

This past year brought my Grandmother's 90th birthday. She is getting old and her memory is fading you can see it everyday, for those of us who see her often it's hard to watch, but we're grateful the have the time to be there with her. Being semi-dramatic (as I think most Elderly people are) she is aways asking if we think she'll see her family before she dies. Because of this we thought it would be nice to try to bring as many people together for her as possible.

Yesterday we had a Family Reunion.

This reunion brought together all her Great Grandchildren, spanning in age from 22 to 8 months. Nana was introduced to Jackson Donato, my cousin Patrick's son and got to see her oldest Great Grandchild, Brian, who she hasn't seen since the end of his Basic Training for the Military. The reunion also, brought my cousin Amy, her fiance Sam and Megan her daughter all the way from South Carolina. My Brother Sean and his wife Tiffany joined us from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, making this the first time they met Loki, my daughter since her birth last December.

For some of the kids, it was their first introduction to their extended family for others it was a chance to see how people have grown and changed. Though everyone couldn't be there, Nana was blessed to see Christopher, my cousin who lives in San Diego just a few weeks prior to the reunion, and received a phone call from my cousin Ed a few days before checking in on her and wishing her well. My Mom called me this afternoon, telling me that Nana has mentioned several times how wonderful it was to have so much of her family with her yesterday. My Mom has already started to pull together a scrapbook for her, something we can look at with her often and help her not to forget how much love she has around her.

Highlights of the day were kick ball the Family vs. The Out-Laws. The Family winning 10 to 8, even with Sean great couching skills; Morgan painting faces for the kids; Toni and Brian hanging in the sandbox with the kids; the beautiful family photograph Patrick & Sara gave Nana from their wedding; Lego Mini-Figure building with Mike and the power point presentation that brought back so many memories.

So Long, Farewell

For the past 2 ½ years Lucretia Avenue has been our home, more importantly our first home. We say good-bye to it fondly and take with us the many memories it has held. I would like to share some of those here now:

July 2005 - Moving in…and crying over a missing bathrobe.

July 2005 - Miss G's pink ...too pink bedroom.

August 2005 - Miss G turns 5.

Sept 2005 - My first time at the Big E.

Oct 2005 - Our first (and only) Halloween Party here.

Dec 2005 - Mad Dog asks me to marry him in our living room after a 4 hour ordeal to find a Christmas Tree that didn't cost us $50.00 in Western, MA ( yes in Western, MA!). He gave me 2 rings- my diamond and my Banana Splits Ring he found on Ebay.

Dec 2005 - Our first Christmas morning with Miss G.

New Years Eve Day 2005/2006 - In Boston with Mad Dog & Kevin for Dim Sum, Ice Sculptures & to tell our engagement news to friends.

Feb 2006 - We lost Phantom (who couldn't control his drool), he pasted in his sleep.

Feb 2006 - I found my place at Barnes & Noble in Enfield, and stopped my horrible commute across the state.

June 2006 - Miss G goes away to WI, for much more than a vacation.

July 2006 - We find out we're pregnant, with our first child. This is happy news - too bad all

August 2006 - We tell our families, and the baby shopping begins for Nana Sandy.

Oct 2006 - those days of "morning" sickness isn't.The transformation of the Media Room into Little Man's bedroom.

Nov 2006 - The many nights of Most Haunted spent on the couch until Mike got home.

Dec 2006 - Miss G returns for Christmas.

Jan 2007 - Impulse gets sick.

Feb 2007 - The first false alarm. No baby, not yet.

Feb 2007 - Little Man is born, 2 weeks early and we would still have time to go to New York Comic-Con (Mad Dog's wishful thinking).

Feb 2007 - My Mom visits our apartment for the 2nd time in 2 years.

April 2007 - Impulse passes away with Little Man and me by his side. Lots of tears and sadness.

May 2007 - Miss G comes home for Easter and meets Little Man for the first time.

June 2007 - Miss G comes for the summer, full of video games, reading, High School Musical 2 and new friends.

August 2007 - I get my new job at Covidien.

August 2007 - Mad Dog and I get married.

Sept 2007 - Little Man finds out he can roll and chases Spirit (our cat) around the bed.

Sept 2007 - Mad Dog, Little Man and I go to Baltimore for Comic-Con. Little Man rocked the Con and is looking forward to next year.

Sept 2007 - We find our new home on Beacon Street.

Oct 2007 - We move!

Movin' Right Along

Movin' right along in search of good times and good news,
With good friends, you can't lose,
This could become a habit.
Opportunity knocked once, let's reach out and grab it,
Together we'll nab it.

If you don't know where that's from there really is no hope for you! Just kidding - but you do need to re-exam your childhood. Its official we're moving to Worcester, MA. Can't believe it myself - Looks like in the next 10 years we might manage to get back to Mansfield somehow. No joking we found a place and it's not exactly where we wanted to be, but it is what we were looking for and for the right price.

I'm not looking forward to the rest of our packing, however I am looking forward to making the new place ours. I have a terrible habit when I go into people's home that I try to make it mine in my head - how would I change it and how would our stuff fit. The only house I can't do this with is my Mom's. I can't imagine ever making that mine.

Our current home is full of boxes and we're slowly packing, but at least we're started. I feel good about that and horribly sad at the same time. This was mine and Mad Dog's first home together. And the place we brought Little Man home too. I'm going to miss it. I wish I had taken more pictures of the place and had more people out. It's a great place and I'm going to miss # 10, but at least we have all our memories and it's love.